A federal judge in Manhattan has overturned a Trump administration policy that halted the issuance of immigrant visas to applicants from 75 countries, ruling that the measure went beyond the legal authority of Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
Judge Jeannette Vargas of the Southern District of New York ruled Friday that the policy was unlawful and inconsistent with federal immigration law. She said the law does not give the secretary of state the authority to control how consular officers make decisions on immigrant visa applications.
Vargas said the policy’s blanket ban on immigrant visas based solely on an applicant’s nationality directly conflicted with the statutory framework established by Congress.
The judge, who was appointed by former Democratic President Joe Biden, issued the ruling in a case brought by immigrant advocacy groups, including the Catholic Legal Immigration Network and African Communities Together. The plaintiffs also included visa applicants and US citizens seeking to sponsor relatives from the affected countries.
The suspension, introduced in January, applied to applicants from 75 nations. The list included Brazil, Colombia and Uruguay in Latin America; Bosnia and Albania in the Balkans; Pakistan and Bangladesh in South Asia; as well as numerous countries across Africa, the Middle East and the Caribbean.
The State Department had justified the policy by arguing that applicants from the affected countries were more likely to become dependent on public assistance and use government resources at the local, state and federal levels.
Trump has made tougher immigration enforcement a major focus of his presidency, saying the measures are necessary to strengthen national security.
The Center for Constitutional Rights said the immigrant visa freeze was part of a series of immigration restrictions introduced by the administration in quick succession. These included a wider travel ban covering 39 countries that came into effect on Jan. 1 and a suspension of diversity visa processing in late December.
Immigrant rights organizations have criticized the administration’s broader immigration policies, arguing that some of the measures threaten constitutional protections, including due process and freedom of speech. They have also raised concerns that the policies could disproportionately affect racial and ethnic minorities.
The State Department had not immediately issued a response to Friday’s ruling.
Source: Al Jazeera